Court gives approval to huge Swedish offshore wind farm

FEBRUARY 18, 2013—A Swedish Land and Environment Court has given a positive environmental opinion towards the development of a new wind farm that would be more than six times larger than Anholt, currently the largest.

The developer is Blekinge Offshore, which is owned by Eolus Vind AB, Vingkraft AB and VindIn AB.

As many as 25 vessels will be required to support logistics for equipment and personnel at the Anholt Wind Farm

The project being developed by Blekinge Offshore would have 700 offshore wind turbines with a capacity of 2,500 MW, will cost up to DKK 45 billlion and construction could start in 2014 or 2015.

By contrast, when fully developed Denmark’s Anholt Wind Farm will have 400 MW of capacity. Anholt Offshore Wind Farm is jointly owned by DONG Energy (50%), PensionDanmark (30%) and PKA (20%). The 400 MW capacity, which should be fully installed this year, corresponds to the power consumption in about 400,000 households.

DONG Energy is responsible for the construction and operation of the offshore wind farm.

According to DONG Energy. at the end of January 2013, 28 wind turbines had been installed in Anholt Offshore Wind Farm; 28 are connected to the grid and 19 have produced electricity.

At the end of this month, A2SEA's new custom-designed installation vessel, Sea Installer, will arrive to replace Sea Jack. Together with Sea Power and Sea Worker, the Sea Installer will continue the installation of wind turbines throughout March before Sea Installer leaves the area in April to take up other tasks in the Irish Sea.

The installation vessels, Sea Worker and Sea Power, will then continue the installation work that is expected to be completed in summer 2013.

The installation vessel Sea Worker installing the first blade on a wind turbine